I remember being terribly excited for integrated labels in Lightwright…until I tried to do them the first few times.  I found the instructions very confusing and the interface a bit frustrating.  So here is my quick and dirty method of getting labels to work in Lightwright.

I’m assuming you already have fixtures in your file.  I’m going to use the file from the last feature I completed- Honey, Don’t!  

First, you go to Utilities>Labels. 

This opens an empty window.  To do this fast, I suggest starting with an existing template.  So go to File>Open Label>In Shared Folder>Fixture Label. 

This opens a small-ish label of the Avery 5520 size, which is 1” x 2 5/8”.

This is fine, but let’s say we want a 2” x 4” label.  In film, I notice larger labels in general since  we want the channel number easily readable from a fair distance from the light.  If we want to change the size, go to the upper left hand corner of the pop up window and click the pulldown menu that currently says Avery 5520.  Select Choose a Label Size to replace the current size. 

I’m scrolling down to Avery 5163 because I know that’s a 2” x 4” label.  Select it and click OK. 

Now your label looks like this. 

It’s helpful to keep things neat if you turn on Grid at the bottom of the pop up window. 

Last view thing, for the best control, be sure to press the red magnifying glass in the upper left hand corner to zoom into your whole label.  With this done, the interface is a bit like any simple drafting or graphics software.  There are really only three categories of information here.  A Field (populated from data in your LW file), an object (such as the grey rectangle) or a label (such as adding the word Channel before the field for channel).  

The first thing I’d like to do is make the grey square larger.  To do that, use your mouse to select the item and be sure you have the rectangle selected and not the Ckt Name field.  Once you select it, drag it to the size you like for your label.  For me, since I’m not usually providing the circuit name and number, this will become a Show Name label.  I’ll follow that up with extending the lines that frame the grey box.  Use the dark blue end points to extend or shrink a line.  A helpful thing to know as you are dragging your line to extend or move it is the center of the blue box is the end of the line.  It’s a little awkward at first, but it gets easier.  I’m not going to walk you through moving every line, since that seems like too much instruction.  But with some fussing around, I’ve moved and extended lines and the boxes and my label now looks like this. 

I’m now going to delete the Ckt Name & Circuit field since I want the show name there.  Just click on the field and hit delete.  Now hit the +T symbol on the left toolbar to insert a label field. 

With the label field still selected, click on the pulldown menu near top center that says Static Text and select Change Static Text.

Now type your desired content into the box and press OK.  Next thing to do is we want to change the size of the text and also make the label spin 90 degrees.  Again- with the label field still selected, click the cog on the left tool bar, which makes a popup box open where text options are.  I’m choosing 32 pt size and clicking the second text direction field. 

Dragging the item over to label over to the grey box makes it look right. 

From here, we’ve basically learned all the actions we need to know to finish the label, except how to add or replace what is in a field.  In case you need to insert a new field, it’s the same process as adding a text box, but instead of choosing Change Static Text from the pulldown, choose a field you want populated from your worksheet.

When you want to start paying closer attention to how things look when the data you are referencing from the worksheet is populated, be sure to select some rows of data in your worksheet… 

…then click Live Data at the bottom of the label popup. 

(Note- all of these options at the bottom are toggles.  Click them again to turn them off.)

Here’s what I ended up with: 

It could be neater, but it looks alright and gets the job done.  Hopefully, now that you have a better idea of how these label editing tools work, you can do something that suits your needs as well.

When you are done, don’t forget to save your work!  File>Save Label As>choose your location.  I highly recommend choosing the Lightwright Label folder itself so you always have access to the labels you make.

Labelling is incredibly important, and I’d love to hear what else you might add to your labels for production.  Obviously, if the production needed it, we’d add a custom gobo load label (usually a check box for me that I can mark with a sharpie).  Let me know what you might do differently in the comments.  Any tips or tricks that you have concerning labels- I’d love to hear from you.

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Mark LaPierre is a programmer in film and television based out of Albuquerque.  He grew up in live entertainment and was a designer/programmer for musicals, concert dance, live music, circus and corporate.  Mark is a proud member of IATSE and an ETC Eos trainer.  If you enjoy his content, please consider commenting on his posts on the website to appease the Algorithm.